Darfur rebels say death sentences breach Sudan legal system
Khartoum Kangaroo Courts sentence 8 more JEM fighters to death:
A Statement from JEM
August 19, 2008 — Khartoum has announced, yet again, another array of death sentences in its never-ending racist crusade against Darfur people. On 18th August, 2008, Khartoum’s Kangaroo courts sentenced eight men to death alleged to be part of JEM attack on the capital, May 10th 2008. The sentences, denounced by Amnesty international as a travesty of Justice, are in direct contravention of state and international laws. They are equally in breach of Sudanese legal system enshrined in its Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
JEM stresses the following:
As neither other national states nor Sudan have mandates to convict prisoners of war (POW), Khartoum resorted to its tailored “Anti-Terrorist Special Courts” for trial of those who have allegedly carried out JEM’s attack on the capital. By so doing, Khartoum has shown once more its contemptuous treatment of international conventions of war and that its legal system is a mere extension of its oppressive regime.
The sentences show that Sudan’s government, and despite its peace talk rhetoric, continues in its military approach to Darfur problem, a road that it has been following all along since the beginning of the crisis.
JEM takes the current sentences as no more than a continuation of the same atrocities against innocent Darfur people and which have so far claimed over 200,000 lives.
JEM strongly warns Khartoum government that any attempt to carry out these sentences will hasten a swift second invasion of Khartoum.
Long live our struggle for Justice and Equality.
Ahmed Husain Adam
Spokesperson, JEM
August 19th, 2008